


Breakfast is an uncomfortable Affair

by mfingenius



Series: Commissions [5]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, Don't copy to another site, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:47:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23658586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mfingenius/pseuds/mfingenius
Summary: “There’re pancakes,” Auguste offers, when no one says anything. It must be uncomfortable for him, too; Nik almost wants to ask him if he knows anything, but he doesn’t think he does. He’d overheard him talking about it to Laurent, once, telling him to cut it off, either with Nik or with Damen, and Laurent had been furious.“I don’t cheat, Auguste,” he’d said, coldly. “I’m dating Nik, and it’s staying that way.”Auguste had backed off after that.
Relationships: Damen & Nikandros (Captive Prince), Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince), Laurent/Nikandros (Captive Prince)
Series: Commissions [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593178
Comments: 19
Kudos: 99





	Breakfast is an uncomfortable Affair

“Laurent!” Damen’s surprise is evident on his face; Nik, Laurent, and Auguste are sitting around the table, having breakfast – pancakes that Nik cooked – and Damen is the last one to wake up. “When did you arrive?”

Laurent looks at Damen, and Nik swallows back the pang of jealousy that swells inside him.

“Today,” Laurent says. “Before dawn.”

“Nik and I picked him up at the airport,” Auguste says, and Damen turns to look at them with a frown.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks. “I would’ve gone with you.”

Nik knows; it’s exactly why he didn’t tell him.

If he’s quite honest, he doesn’t exactly know  _ what _ it is that there is between Laurent and Damen, but he knows it’s there. They all do, and they all pretend it’s not, even when Nik finds Damen giving Laurent secret, longing looks, face filled with guilt afterwards. Laurent is better at hiding it; Nik’s only caught him looking at Damen once, and Laurent had felt so bad about it he’d blown Nik in the bathroom of the restaurant.

“There’re pancakes,” Auguste offers, when no one says anything. It must be uncomfortable for him, too; Nik almost wants to ask him if  _ he _ knows anything, but he doesn’t think he does. He’d overheard him talking about it to Laurent, once, telling him to cut it off, either with Nik or with Damen, and Laurent had been furious. 

_ “I don’t cheat, Auguste,” he’d said, coldly. “I’m dating Nik, and it’s staying that way.” _

Auguste had backed off after that.

Sometimes, Nik thinks that if he were a better man, less selfish, he’d break it off with Laurent. Laurent isn’t unhappy with him, not by far, but Nik thinks him and Damen... well, they make sense; they fit in a way Nik and Laurent don’t. But, as it is, he loves Laurent, and he’s selfish for this. 

Damen is his best friend, and Nik would give everything for him, he would, but not this. Not Laurent.

“Right.” Damen sits on the table, chair beside Laurent’s, and Nik grabs Laurent’s wrist and pulls him into his lap, wrapping his arms around his waist. Laurent comes willingly, and turns his neck to press a kiss to Nik’s lips.

Unsubtle, perhaps, but effective, if the way Damen’s shoulders tense is any indication.

“These are good,” Auguste says, visibly uncomfortable. He grabs Laurent’s plate from where it is on the table, and pushes it aggressively towards him and Nik. “ _ Eat _ .”

The rest of breakfast is spent in silence. 

* * *

“You know, the couch is big enough for all of us.” Damen says. “You don’t  _ have _ to do that.”

“I know,” Nik says, squeezing Laurent’s hip – sitting in his lap – to make a point. He knows Laurent doesn’t have to sit on his lap, but he does, anyway.

No one says anything for a few tense moments, and then Auguste speaks.

“Alright, I think we need to talk about this,” he says.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Laurent tells him, giving his brother a  _ look _ .

“Clearly, there is,” Auguste says, unimpressed. “Whatever this little fight is-”

“We don’t fight,” Damen and Nik say at the same time. It’s true; they’re best friends, and they’ve never fought over  _ anything _ . Not Damen’s idiotic choices, not Nik’s annoying habits. 

“It’s about Laurent,” Auguste continues, as though they hadn’t spoken.

“Auguste,  _ stop, _ ” Laurent says.

No one says anything; Nik still remembers the day he and Damen met Laurent; Damen was still moping over  Jokaste , and didn’t even give Laurent a second glance. Nik had. It had been Nik who Laurent had gone home with, it’s Nik whose bed he sleeps in every night, it’s Nik who he kisses, who he sleeps with, who he lets hug him. None of them had imagined it would turn into this unholy mess.

And now – now, all Damen does is  _ look _ at Laurent. They share these secret looks, conversations in low voices that Nik hears but doesn’t really understand, the way they argue, the way they flirt. The way Laurent loves Damen, if only a little bit.

The way Laurent is still, at the end of the day, with him. Every day, every night, every date, it’s all between them. It’s still him who Laurent kisses, who Laurent tells he loves him.

And he doesn’t know what it is, doesn’t know why Laurent likes the both of them the way he does, but he knows that as soon as they talk about it, they’ll all be forced to face things none of them want to face.

So it’s better if it’s left alone.

“It’s fine, Auguste.” Nik tells him, and Auguste’s frown deepens. “We’re fine. We don’t need to talk about it.”

“We don’t,” Damen agrees, and Laurent nods, and his eyelashes flutter as they look away from Damen and towards Nik.

Nik cups his face, rubs Laurent’s cheekbone with his thumb, but it’s Laurent who leans in, it’s Laurent who kisses him.

“See?” Damen says, lightly strangled. “We’re fine.”

*

“You alright?” Nik asks, running his fingers through Laurent’s hair.

They’re lying in bed together, Laurent only in his shirt, leg thrown over Nik’s, face buried in Nik’s chest.

“I’m fine,” Laurent says; Nik can feel his eyelashes fluttering against his chest. “You?”

Nik didn’t believe in soulmates, not until he met Laurent; he’s not a hopeless romantic, not the way Damen is, and he never imagined himself loving anyone as much as he loves Laurent, and cannot fathom ever loving anyone more. It must mean Laurent is his soulmate.

Unfortunately, he also has a high suspicion that if that’s true, he’s not Laurent’s. Damen is. And Laurent is Damen’s. And he is  _ sure _ of it, and maybe that means he should step aside, but he won’t. He can’t.

“Laurent?” 

“Hmm?”

“Why are you with me?”

Laurent doesn’t tense, doesn’t move, doesn’t react.

“Because I love you,” he says.

“Do you love Damen, too?”

Laurent doesn’t say anything. Nik listens to him breathe for a few seconds, and then Laurent sits up and straddles Nik’s hips. 

“Do you want to talk about that?” he asks, voice low. “Or do you want to do something else?”

He gives a pointed grind of his hips against Nik’s. Nik automatically reaches up to grab his waist, and then squeezes Laurent’s ass. 

One of these days, he should stop letting Laurent distract him with sex; not tonight though. Nik doesn’t want to have his heart broken tonight.

“Alright,” he says softly, and Laurent leans over to kiss him deeply.

**Author's Note:**

> This was an anonymous commission :D hope you enjoyed it! Find me on tumblr @mfingenius


End file.
